The Leonard Lopate Show
The Bin Laden Family
Mohamed bin Laden started as a bricklayer for an American oil company in the 1930s; he went on to build a family fortune as the official construction company of the Saudi Royal family. He also fathered 54 children, one of whom is Osama bin Laden. Pulitzer Prize-winner Steve Coll writes about the rags-to-riches bin Laden story in a new book, The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century.
Event: Steve Coll will be speaking and signing books
Wednesday, April 2 at 7:30 pm
Lincoln Square Barnes & Noble
1972 Broadway (at 66th Street)
Listen to Steve Coll talk about the history of the CIA in Afghanistan (Lopate Show, March 2004)
I've heard it said that Osama bin Laden shouldnt' be difficult to find because he is 6'7" and on kidney dialysis. Is this true?
Posted by: Chicago Listener April 01, 2008 - 12:12PM
Would Bin Laden's capture or death put a dent in Al Qaeda's operations? Is he still the operational leader of that movement or has he evolved into a figurehead?
Posted by: Chicago Listener April 01, 2008 - 12:24PM
Also, BTW, when I saw the NYT piece I immediately added this new book to my Amazon shopping cart. I have also evangelized for "Ghost Wars," which helped me straighten out friends who swallowed whole the lies about 9/11 and the war on Iraq.
When I was living in Jeddah Sauid Arabia in 1997, I had the chance to meet 3 members of the Bin Laden family while saying at a condo along the Red Sea which was built by the Bin Laden Construction Co. I have to say that the pressure their family had from the media (even at that time) drove one of the members I met, to inflict knife cuts to her legs as a way of relieving her stress.
Very, very interesting. Thank you.
Thanks Leonard,
To add to the record, the Afgan UN rep. pleaded with me in an interview in 1983 (that's early 1983), that the people we were supporting (The Freedom Fighters), "want to destroy everything you stand for too". He said they will turn on us someday as well. The rep couldn't understand why we couldn't see that.
I have heard Al Qaeda didn't really exist (under that name) until the FBI labeled them as a crime organization with the name for prosecution from the first attack on WTC.
Has his family or properties faced any type of retaliation or vandalism since 9/11?
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